Educational shoe for children



March 16, 1943. HUME 2,313,874

4 EDUCATIONAL SHOE FOR CHILDREN Filed Aug. 29, 1941 INVENTVR Ccmwoz Hm TVRNEY Patented Mar. 16, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-ICE,

ZEDUCA'IIOPLAL SHOE FOR CHILDREN f Gertrude Hom Claremont, Calif.

' Application August29, 1941, Serial No. 468,737

4 Claims.

This invention relates to educational devices for children and more particularly to an educational children's shoe. 1 Q

Children, at the age when they are usually taught to dress themselves, have difficulty in learning how to lace their shoes properly. Nor mally, a child of this age learns to cross the opposite ends of the lace between each successive pair of eyelets,to provide the conventional lacil only after many patient demonstrations and a. great deal of trial and error.

This invention has for its principal object to provide a novel childrens shoe, of the lace-up type, so constructed as, of itself, to teach the child how to lace it in the accepted manner. Another object is to provide such a shoe which renders the somewhat tedious .task of lacing more enjoyable for the .child.., ,A further object is: to provide the'seadvantages without impairing the ornamental appearance of the laced shoe.

.1 have found that the foregoing objects are attained by making the two lace ends of markedly contrasting appearanceand by providing the shoe areaimmediately surrounding each eyelet with an appearance which a child will readily associate only with the one of the two different appearing lace ends which should be threaded through the eyelet in lacing the shoe properly. Preferably, the desired association of appearance is obtained by the use of color, providing each lace tip, or lace portion adjacent the tip, with a surface color which contrasts definitely with the surface coloration of the other tip, or adjacent lace portion, and applying the same two colors alternatively about the eyelets of each row, commencing each eyelet row with a diiferent color. The child then readily understands that a lace end is to be threaded only through eyelets having the same color about them and, by virtue of the zig-zag arrangement of eyelets of the same color in the two rows, easily produces a proper crisscross lacing of the shoe.

In the appended drawing, which shows a conventional style of a child's lace-up shoe embodying the invention, the shoe illustrated has a. sole and an upper H comprising a vamp l2 carrying the tongue I l, and a quarter I6 having two longitudinal rows l8 and of eyelets at its opposite front edges for receiving the lacing 22,

there being seven eyelets in each row in the embodiment shown. The eyelets of rows l8 and 20 may or may not be provided with metal bushings.

The lowermost eyelet and the second, fourth, and sixth eyelet above it in row l8, and the next to the lowermost eyelet and the second and fourth eyelet above it in row 20 are provided about their inner ends. with a band 24 of a color, indicated as blue. The other eyelets of rows l8 and 20 are similarly provided about their inner ends with a band 25 of adiiferent color, indicated as red. One tip 28 of the lacing 22 is provided upon its surface with the same color as that'used in forming the bands 24, blue in the embodiment illustrated, whiletheother lacing tip 30 is provided upon its surface with thecoloru'sed in forming the bands 26, red in the instance illustrated. I r v j A child readily understands that each lace end is to be threaded only through eyelets banded with the same color and quickly learns to thread each tip throughthe lowermost eyelet banded with its color, then through the next to the lowermostfeyelet having the same color, which it will find in the opposite row, and so onto provide a proper criss-cross weaving of the lacing. In this'manner, the lacing of shoesbecomes an enjoyable game instead of adifiicult task for the child and the work "of teaching the'child is sim- Dlified.

In the' drawing, 'the bands 24 and 2 6 are shown as applied only about the inner ends of the eyelets and I preferably provide them there and not on the outside of the quarter, as they are then completely concealed from view when the shoe is lacedand the ends of the quarter are drawn down onto the tongue, so that the normal appearance of the laced shoe is not affected by them. However, if desired, corresponding bands may be provided on the outside of the quarter adjacent the eyelets, instead of, or in addition to, the bands on the inside as shown.

While I prefer to employ coloring as the medium by which to associate the appearance of each lacing tip with the eyelets to which it is intended to be applied and to contrast its appearance with that of eyelets to which it is not intended to be applied, other media may be employed for the purpose, as, for example, a symbol or design applied to one tip and adjacent the eyelets through which it is intended to be threaded, and a contrasting symbol or design applied to the other tip and about the eyelets intended to receive it. And while I'prefer to contrastthe appearance of the two tips of the lace only, in correspondence with the contrasting appearance of eyelets, as shown, this is not necessary and the same purpose may be served by making portions of the lacing itself, adjacent its opposite ends, of different appearance whether or not tips of contrasting appearance are also utilized.

It will thus be evident that the particular embodiment shown in the drawing is merely illustrative of a preferred form of the invention and that departures therefrom may be made within or paint, or indirectly in the form of colored thread or the like. Thus, by referring in the appended claims to areas of shoe upper adjacent the eyelets, I mean to include therein eyelet bushings or other devices superposed upon the surface of the upper leather adjacent the eyelet edges.

I claim:

1. In an educational shoe for children, an upper having a pair of spaced edge portions arranged to be laced together to secure the shoe upon the foot, a row of lacing eyelets along each of said edge portions, said edge portions, in areas adjacentto at least one end of certain of said eyelets of each said row, having a similar feature of appearance which contrasts markedly with a feature of appearance of corresponding areas of said edge portions adjacent the other eyelets in said rows, and a lacing having an end portion thereof intended to be threaded through said certain eyelets only of said rows in lacing the shoe, said end portion of said lacing having a feature of appearance which distinguishes the appearance of said end portion from the other end portion of the lacing and which corresponds to said feature of appearance of said edge portion areas adjacent said certain eyelets and contrasts with said feature .of appearance of said edge portion areas adjacent the other of said eyelets.

2. In an educational shoe for children, an upper having a pair of spaced edge portions arranged to be laced together to secure the shoe upon the foot, a row of lacing eyelets along each of said edge portions, said edge portions, in areas adjacent to at least one end of certain of said eyelets of each said row, having a similar feature of appearance which contrasts markedly with a feature of appearance of the corresponding areas of said edge portions adjacent the other eyelets in said rows, and a lacing for said eyelets having, adjacent one end, a feature of appearance which corresponds to said feature of appearance of said edge portion areas adjacent said certain eyelets and which contrasts with said feature of appearance of said edge portion areas adjacent the said other eyelets, and adjacent its opposite end a feature of appearance which contrasts with said feature of appearance of said edge portion areas adjacent said certain eyelets and which corresponds to said feature of appearance of said edge portion areas adjacent the said other eyelets.

3. In an educational shoe for children, an upper having a pair of spaced edge portions arranged to be laced together to secure the shoe upon the foot, a row of lacing eyelets along each f said edge portions, at least one surface of said edge portions bearing, in areas adjacent certain of said eyelets of each said row, the same color which contrasts with the color of correspondin areas of said edge portions adjacent the other of said eyelets, and a lacing for said eyelets havin contrastingly colored end portions, the end portion intended to be threaded through said certain eyelets only of said rows bearing said first named color. I

4.'In an educational shoe for children, an upper having a pair of spaced edge portions ar ranged to be laced together to secure the shoe upon the foot. a row of lacing eyelets along each of said edge portions, and a lacing for said eyelets having, contrastingly colored tips at its two ends, certain of said eyelets in each of said rows having, about their inner ends, a border of the color of one of said tips, and therest of said eye: lets having, about their inner ends, a border of the color of the other of said tips.

GERTRUDE HUME. 

